What is the Best Shotgun for Home Defense?

By David Parris, Staff Writer

Choosing the best shotgun for home defense is crucial for ensuring the safety of your household. When considering the best home defense shotgun, evaluating factors such as reliability, ease of use, stopping power, and safety is important. Setting aside the argument for whether or not a shotgun is an ideal weapon for home defense, this piece just focuses on helping you pick the best home defense shotgun for your needs. Besides, since you’re reading this, it’s probably fair to assume that you’ve looked at other options for home defense guns and settled on a shotgun as the best option for your situation. No matter what you choose, you will still need to put in practice time before relying on any gun in a high-stress defensive situation.

Key Considerations for Selecting the Best Shotgun for Home Defense

  1. Gauge:
    The 12-gauge shotgun is widely regarded as the best home defense shotgun due to its considerable stopping power and the availability of various ammo types. However, for those who prefer less recoil, the 20-gauge shotgun is also a solid option. For shooters who are highly recoil-sensitive, a 410 shotgun is a viable choice, given the wide variety of defense loads available. A 10-gauge is a poor choice for home defense as it’s generally considered over-powered and appropriate ammo loads are harder to come by.
  2. Action type:
    There are three main types of shotguns to consider for home defense and one to avoid:
  • Pump-action shotguns are highly reliable and straightforward to operate. Their design makes them less likely to jam, making them a top choice for many.
  • Semi-automatic shotguns offer quicker follow-up shots, which can be critical in a defensive situation. However, they require more maintenance to ensure reliability and are often more expensive than a pump-action.
  • Lever-action shotguns are slower to operate than pump-action, but they often share the same capacity. They take more practice to master than a pump-action or semi-auto, making them a less desirable choice for an introductory-level home defense shotgun.
  • Double-barrel shotguns should be avoided for home defense due to their limited ammunition capacity and slower reloading times inherent to the break-action design. Sure, they look cool and are a lot of fun, but for the same price, you can have a better action type for defensive purposes with higher shell capacity. Obviously, for these same reasons, single-barrel shotguns are the worst possible choice for home defense shotguns.
  1. Barrel length:
    For home defense, shorter barrels (18-20 inches) are preferred. This provides better maneuverability in tight spaces like halls and doorways. Considering a stock with a shorter length-of-pull (LOP) that will reduce the overall length (OAL) even more isn’t a bad idea, either.
    Always check local laws to ensure compliance with regulations regarding barrel length and overall length before purchasing a firearm.

Top Choices for the Best Home Defense Shotgun

1. Mossberg 500/Mossberg 590:

The Mossberg 500 and its tactical variant, the 590, are renowned for their reliability, versatility and affordability. Features like an ambidextrous safety, dual extractors and anti-jam elevators make them exceptional choices.

Mossberg 500/590

The 590 often includes tactical upgrades, such as heat shields and extended magazine tubes, enhancing its utility in defensive situations. There are tons of different barrels and accessories available for 500s, making them a one-size-fits-all for home defense, hunting, and target shooting just by swapping a few parts.

2. Remington 870

Another affordable and iconic pump-action shotgun, the Remington 870 is celebrated for its robust design and customization options. The 870 Tactical model, featuring an 18.5-inch barrel and extended magazine, is particularly well-suited for home defense.

Remington 870

These shotguns can even be picked up with pistol grips, synthetic stocks and optic mounts. They are also easily upgraded with aftermarket parts. This includes varying length barrels, providing more options to shooters.

3. Benelli M4

For those who prefer a semi-automatic option, the Benelli M4 stands out as a top-tier choice. Used by military and law enforcement agencies globally, its ARGO (Auto-Regulating Gas-Operated) system ensures smooth cycling and minimal maintenance. This makes the Benelli one of the best shotguns for home defense. In fact, the U.S. Marines Corps chose the M4 as its standard issue shotgun, calling it the M1014.

Benelli M4

The Benelli M4 comes standard with a drilled and tapped receiver for mounting optics. But it also comes with ghost ring sights. These provide a variety of targeting options. Folks can even choose between anodized black and titanium Cerokote finishes.

4. Kel-Tec KSG

The Kel-Tec KSG is a unique bullpup shotgun with dual magazine tubes. These allow up to 14+1 rounds of 2 3/4, 12-gauge ammunition. Its compact size makes it highly maneuverable in confined spaces, and the ability to quickly switch between magazine tubes adds to its versatility.

Kel-Tec KSG

5. Winchester SXP Defender

Known for its smooth action and speed, the Winchester SXP Defender is a pump-action shotgun ideal for home defense. The inertia-assisted slide-action allows for rapid follow-up shots, and its lightweight design ensures ease of handling.

Winchester SXP Defender

Some of its features include textured grip on the stock, chrome-plated chamber and bore, and fixed cylinder bore choke. As such, the SXP can fire slugs, buckshot and everything else on the shotgun menu.

What is the Best Shotgun Ammo for Home Defense?

Picking the right shotgun shells for home defense is crucial. Birdshot and small-game hunting loads are underpowered and can’t be relied upon to get the job done. There are many specifically-designed tactical and defense loads on the market that are far superior to shotgun shells for hunting. Buckshot is a go-to defense load, offering both stopping power and a variety of pellets ranging from #4 up to 000. Shotgun slugs are an option, but may result in undesired overpenetration through walls, posing a safety risk to bystanders. One more shotgun load to consider are Mini-Shells, as they increase the capacity of your shotgun and are available in buckshot or slugs. Some shotguns won’t cycle them properly without an adapter (if available for the make/model), and most semi-autos won’t cycle them at all. However, for shotguns that are compatible, Mini-Shells are an excellent option for home defense.

Defensive Shotgun Ammunition

Best Home Defense Shotgun

In summary, the best home defense shotgun is the one that is tailored to your budget, recoil tolerance, and skillset. Make sure you select the right shotgun ammo and practice, practice, practice. You can find the best home defense shotguns and shotgun shells at GunBroker.com with new listings added daily!

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